


Love is Not a Cage

by joliemariella



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hades and Persephone AU, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 19:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18879979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joliemariella/pseuds/joliemariella
Summary: Hades and Persephone AU. After a single glorious day spent in one another's company on the surface, Hank willingly followed Simon back to his kingdom in the underworld where he has dwelt happily ever since. Still, he IS one of the more important nature gods, sooner or later someone was going to come looking and force him to return to the surface... unless he finds a way to permanently bind himself to the kingdom of the dead. Easier said than done, considering dying isn't an option even for a lesser god such as himself.





	Love is Not a Cage

**Author's Note:**

> This WAS just meant to be a little blurb to be posted on tumblr but it kinda ballooned from there... as per usual. Just a one shot for now, but I might add more later, so make sure to give me a follow to be alerted if I post a sequel/prequel!

It’d taken a lot of time, effort, and patience to coax life out of the underworld’s dead soil, but in the end, Hank had managed.

_ ’Not a nature god for nothin’ after all,’ _ he mused silently to himself as he pushed a few stray golden-brown curls from his face and grinned at the tree he’d coaxed into being at the center of the atrium courtyard.

It was a small thing, only barely reaching the god’s shoulder, but it was green, vibrant, and thriving against all odds. Bending down, Hank searched among the foliage and was pleased to find a number of already ripe fruits ready for picking. Grin widening, he plucked one and straightened, tossing the palm sized fruit in one hand to gauge its weight.

“Oh-”

Hank glanced around at the familiar voice, heart skipping a little in his chest when his eyes landed on the tall, slim figure lingering in the shadows of the nearest doorway to the courtyard.

The god of the underworld was just as tall as Hank himself, but where the nature god was broad and muscular, Simon was thin and willowy, moving with a grace that made one wonder if he weren’t simply drifting across the ground rather than walking. He was, unsurprisingly, dressed in long, gray and black robes, his crow-like wings half folded behind him as he approached Hank, a look of disbelief on his deathly pale features.

“You did it,” Simon observed aloud, words soft and curiously resonant as they always were, his pitch black eyes wide with wonder as he stared at the intensely red fruit in his lover’s hand.

“Told you I would,” Hank said proudly as he gave the pomegranate a cheeky wave. Simon’s gaze followed its every move as he came to a stop, and for a moment the nature god thought he might reach out and take the fruit from him, but he refrained.

Instead, he looked at Hank and canted his head to one side as he asked, “Why pomegranates?”

The other god blinked, then glanced away as he tossed the fruit absently between his hands and admitted, “Well, I remembered you said they were your favorite, so…”

Simon’s dark eyes widened, then dropped to look at the fruit again as a faint blush managed to tint his pale cheeks. He wasn’t sure  _ why _ ; he and Hank had been lovers for some time now, and yet… well, the nature god still affected him like no other. “Hank…” he murmured, touched by the gesture. “Thank you, that’s… that’s incredibly sweet of you.”

The other god flashed him a grin, clearly pleased, but when Simon reached out to take the pomegranate from him, Hank pulled it back out of reach, making Simon cast him a quizzical look. The nature god was normally an open book when it came to reading his expressions, but there was something unfamiliar in his eyes now that Simon couldn’t quite place and made his frown deepen.

Whatever it was, it quickly vanished as Hank said, “Hang on, lemme test it first. Don’t want you eating it if it’s no good.”

As Simon looked on, eyes wide with surprise at this declaration, Hank dug his fingertips into the firm rind and pulled it clean in two with a crisp tearing sound. A few stray seeds tumbled free to scatter across the freshly tilled earth at their feet, and juice, bright and crimson as cut rubies, gushed out to stain Hank’s tan, calloused hands.

“Well,  _ looks _ good,” the nature god remarked mostly to himself as he examined the brilliant red seeds and pulled away a bit of the inner skin to reveal more of their number. Simon watched, almost hypnotized, as his lover pressed the tip of one thumb into the fruit and pushed so several of the seeds came loose.

He should stop him. 

He should  _ absolutely _ stop him before he made a terrible mistake.

He didn’t want to, though. A moment of silence would buy him that which he wanted most in all the world and he wasn’t sure he had the strength to resist the temptation that presented. Just a moment longer and Hank would be his forever…

A small tremor raced through Simon’s wings though Hank did not appear to notice as he picked a single pip and brought it to his lips.

Simon broke.

“Stop!” he cried, the word tearing from him so forcefully it physically hurt as he reached up and grabbed Hank’s wrist with a grip like a vice. His long, pale fingers, slender though they might be, were more than strong enough to halt the other god mid-gesture.

Hank looked at him, his clear blue gaze calm in spite of his lover’s uncharacteristic outburst. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I-” Simon began, suddenly overcome by an almost physical agony, his expression twisting unhappily as tears threatened at the corners of his dark eyes. “You can’t eat that, it’s of the underworld, whether you grew it or not. If you do, you’ll be trapped down here with me, forever.” The god’s wings trembled as he bowed his head in shame at how close he had come to letting his lover do just that.

“Yeah, and?”

Simon snapped his head up to look at the other god and stared at the amused expression Hank was regarding him with. One brow lifted, a crooked smile tugging at his lips…  _ he’d known exactly what he was doing _ , the god of the underworld realized.

“But-” he began, brow furrowed as he tried to silence the traitor heart in his chest as it rejoiced in the simple knowledge that his lover wanted to stay because he knew he could never let him; shouldn’t let him…  _ wanted _ to let him-

He was quickly silenced as Hank gently reached towards Simon with the hand he had grabbed, and gently pressed the pomegranate seed between his parted lips. “But nothing,” he said, quiet but firm, gaze locked on the pale god’s face as Simon’s eyes fluttered shut involuntarily at the blissfully sweet yet tart flavor that burst across his tongue.

It’d been a long,  _ long _ time since he’d had real food rather than something he’d conjured himself, and he was reminded once again just how good it could be. Juice from Hank’s fingertips stained his pale lips and Simon’s tongue flicked out the taste it reflexively, making him sigh and step closer to his lover as his eyes opened once more.

“Do you  _ want _ me to stay?” Hank asked, voice solemn even as he fed the other god another seed.

Simon took it readily this time, crushing it between his back teeth with a satisfying pop of the seed’s thin skin followed by another rush of flavor. Unable to resist the temptation, the pale god tilted his head and caught the tip of Hank’s finger with his lips, then ran his tongue along the pad to taste the juice that lingered there. He could hear his lover’s breath catch, and while Simon longed to tease him further, the seriousness of the conversation did not escape him.

“Of  _ course _ I do,” he admitted fervently. “More than anything, but… but not like this. I won’t chain you here by obligation, Hank. You’re welcome to stay for so long as I make you happy; you don’t have to do this-”

A sad sort of smile crossed Hank’s face and he said, “If you don’t chain me down, my love, they’ll come and take me from you.” Simon’s brow furrowed in confusion and the nature god continued, “Sooner or later, someone upstairs is going to notice that I’m missing and they’re going to come looking for me.” Hank cast aside one half of the pomegranate and reached up to cup his lover’s face, pulling him in so their foreheads touched. “They’ll never let you keep me, you know that,” he murmured, thumb brushing absently over Simon’s cheek, dragging a faint smudge of red across his pale skin in the process.

Neither of them took any notice.

Simon closed his eyes again in an effort to stifle the tears threatening there once more. “I know,” he admitted, a bone deep sorrow echoing in his voice. “But to cage you here the same way I have been… it seems too cruel.”

“I don’t  _ want _ to go, Simon,” Hank insisted, pulling away a little so he could look the other god in the eye once more. His hand slid around to the back of Simon’s neck and gripped him lightly to drive his point home. “If you’ll have me, I would  _ gladly _ stay forever.”

The tears he’d been struggling to contain spilled down Simon’s cheeks at the words, and though his heart ached with the effort, he tried again. “But what about your life on the surface? You’d really be okay only seeing the sun one day a year?”

“Your smile’s brighter than the sun and you’re far kinder on the eyes,” Hank countered and Simon huffed even as a faint blush crept up his neck to his face.

“What about all the green and growing things? The animals?”

Hank just waved a hand at the pomegranate tree and smiled, “I’ve got my work cut out for me, but it’s doable. The challenge makes it more fun, anyways.”

“Your mother-” Simon began.

“Is a grown goddess that needs to let me off her apron strings.”

A soft, wet laugh escaped the god of the underworld and he wiped absently at the tears staining his cheeks with the edge of one dark tunic sleeve.

“C’mon, sweetheart, I can go all day,” Hank challenged him playfully and his lover shot him a wry look that made the nature god laugh. He quickly subsided into a gentle smile, though, and he offered the remaining half of the pomegranate to Simon as he said, “It’s not a cage, and they’re not chains. It’s a home, and a life with the man I love.” Hank tilted his head slightly to catch his lover’s gaze before continuing in a low, fervent voice, “I  _ want _ this, Simon. If you do too-”

“I do,” Simon interjected immediately as the last of his strength finally abandoned him. He could only do so much, resist so much when everything he’d ever wanted was offered to him so freely. “I do,” he repeated as he closed the distance between them and pressed his face into the crook of Hank’s neck. “I do, I do, I do…” he murmured, trembling with the force of so much want. He felt Hank’s arm slide around his waist under the base of his wings and pull him in tighter yet as Simon’s hands knotted in the front of his tunic.

The nature god pressed a kiss to his pale, golden hair and held him like that for a long moment before quietly murmuring, “Well then, will you do the honors?”

Simon pulled back a little and glanced down as Hank offered him the pomegranate one last time. The god of the underworld stared at it, then, with a shaking hand, reached out and plucked a single seed from among the many, and lifted it to his lover’s lips. Hank watched him through half-lidded eyes, then gently took his offering, chewed it carefully, and swallowed.

The reality of what had just transpired settled over them both, but rather than regret, Simon saw only relief in the nature god’s eyes. Hank smiled, then leaned in and caught the other god’s lips with his own, coaxing him gently out of his shock until Simon finally took a breath and threw his arms around his neck.

The kiss grew in intensity until Hank dropped the other half of the pomegranate and it landed in the dirt beside the first among the original scattered seeds. Simon’s fingers twined through his thick, honey colored curls and the nature god groaned softly into his mouth as he let his hands rove over his lover’s lean frame before lifting him into his arms and carrying him back into the palace proper.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed, let me know what you thought in the comments, I really love hearing that from you guys!


End file.
